The government of Indonesia is going to reorganize the issuance of permits for horticultural imports to maintain the competitiveness of local products. In the future, horticultural product importers will be subject to a quota by the government.

The quota policy was issued by the Agriculture Ministry on May 1.

The need for a horticultural import license has also been stipulated in a recent decree issued by the Agriculture Ministry in January this year.

The Agriculture Ministry decree will support the Trade Ministry decree in regulating imports. The decree, among others, stipulates that import licenses will not be issued without a recommendation from the Agriculture Ministry.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said the regulation was applicable, but the Trade Ministry was yet to issue any supporting policies. The regulations issued by the Trade Ministry are important because they are linked to the procedures for import licensing.